ERIC ED312692: Visual Media for English Teachers: An Annotated Bibliography.

DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 312 692 CS 506 856

TITLE Visual Media for English Teachers: An Annotated

Bibliography.

INSTITUTION National Council of Teachers of English, Urbana,
111.

PUB DATE 90

NOTE 23p.; Prepared by the NCTE Commission on Media.

PUB TYPE Reference Materials - Bibliographies (131)

EDRS PRICE MF01/PC01 Plus Postage.

DESCRIPTORS Annotated Bibliographies; Audience Response;

"Computer Assisted Instruction; Film Production;

*Film Study; Higher Education; High Schools;

* Language Arts; Technological Advancement;

^Television; *Visual Literacy
IDENTIFIERS Imaging; Media Courses; * Media Education; *Media

Literacy; Visual Communication Education

ABSTRACT

Intended to help teachers find their way through the
world of visual media and listing works selected by experienced
teachers and practitioners, this annotated bibliography contains
nearly 100 items. The bibliography is divided into sections on: (1)
film studies; (2) television studies; (3) response and
intertextuality; (4) video production; (5) computers and
English/ language arts; (6) imaging; and (7) text books for media
education. With the exception of one item which was first published
in 1952, the selections date from 1971 to 1989. (NKA)

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VISUAL MEDIA FOR ENGLISH TEACHERS: AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

CD

CO

Prepared by the Commission on Media
of the National Council of Teachers of English

1990

Contributors 1

Introduction 3
William Costanzo

Film Studies 6
Ernece Kelly and William Costanzo

Television Studies 8
Richard Fehlman

Response and Intertextuality 11
Carole Cox

Video Production 13
Stephen Goodman

Computers and English/ Language Arts 14
Stephen Marcus

Imaging 17
Nancy Thompson

Text Books for Media Education 18
Michael Thomas

Members of the NCTE Commission on Media 22

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INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) " ment d0 nc,t necessarily represent official

OE Rl position or policy

Contributors;

William Costanzo
Westchester Community College, Valhalla, New York

Carole Cox

California State University, Luna Beach, California

Richard Fehlman
North High School, Davenport, Iowa

Steven Goodman,
Educational Video Center, New York, New York

Ernece Kelly

Kingsborough Community College, Brooklyn, New York

Stephen Marcus
University of California, Santa Barbara, California

Michael Thomas

Protestant School Board of Greater Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Nancy Thompson
University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina

VISUAL MEDIA FOR ENGLISH TEACHERS: AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Where do the visual media belong in today's schools? As
teachers of English, we recognize that young people learn
language in an environment significantly shaped by television,
movies, photography, graphics — forms of communication that are
rich in visual imagery. How is the importance of these mctdia in
our culture and in the lives of our students being reflected in
our classrooms?

The facts are clear. We know that more than half of all
Americans get all their news from network news programs. We know
that children spend more time watching television than they spend
in formal classes. Yet how much time do we spend developing our
students' critical viewing skills or studying how television
works? Researchers have shown that visual thinking plays an
essential role in how we read and write. Visual media, like
spoken and written language, are vehicles for exchanging
information and ideas. They are also instruments of thought:
symbolic tools for shaping meaning. The visual imagination works
best in collaboration with verbal skills. When we write, we often
call on mental imagery to refine perceptions and to organize
emerging compositions. When we read, we frequently interpret
texts by visualizing them. Yet how often do we draw on our
students' visual abilities to improve their reading, writing,
listening, and speaking skills? What steps do we take in the
classroom to strengthen the natural partnership of language,
thought, and vision?

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The options and the needs have both increased in recent
years. First, new technologies have given us new teaching tools.
With lightweight camcorders supplanting the heavy video equipment
and Super-8 film mailers of the seventies, it is now much easier
and quicker to create visual narratives. The old term camera-
stylo has never been more meaningful. With VCRs and laser disks
replacing film projectors as instruments of film analysis, we can
now give movies, television shows, and other visual texts the
close critical attention traditionally reserved for printed
works. Meanwhile, computers are helping to integrate visual and
verbal elements as never before. Second, new trends in theory and
research have offered fresh perspectives. From studies in
semiotics, we are learning how to read the cultural codes and
signs of visual discourse: for example, how certain images of
women or ethnic groups are constructed and embedded in our
advertisements, movies, situation comedies, and styles of dress.
From ethnographers, we are learning about the influence of social
settings on audience response. From cognitivists, we're learning
that intelligence has multiple dimensions: musical, mathematical,
and muscular and as well as visual and verbal.

With so much to learn and so much to accomplish, what's an
English teacher to do? Where do you begin once you've recognized
the needs? where do you turn for more advice after taking the
first steps? The NCTE Commission on Media has prepared a
bibliography to help teachers find their way through the world of

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visual media. What we offer here is a list of books selected by
experienced teacherr and practitioners. The section on Television
Studies was compiled by Barbra Morris, teacher, film producer,
and member of the University of Michigan's English Composition
Board. The section on Film Studies was annotated by William
Costanzo and Ernece Kelley, both of whom have taught English and
film to community college students for many years. Carole Cox,
known for her studies of viewer response, makes intriguing links
between literature and film; the works she has chosen offer new
ways to understand how students respond to visual and verbal
storytelling. Stephen Goodman selected the books on video
production. As director the Educational Video Center in
Manhattan, he has provided the instruments of visual expression
to hundreds of students and teachers in inner-city high schools.
By no means is this bibliography a comprehensive map of the
terrain. It offers some excellent points of entry and some
prominent features, both venerable and new, all worth exploring
on your own. We hope you'll take the trip.

- William Costanzo, Director
NCTE Commission on Media

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FILM STUDIES

The wave of enthusiasm for film study that crested in the early
1970s, then ebbed during the back to basics movement of the
following decade, has begun to rise again, impelled perhaps by
advances in research and technology. With the advent of VCRs,
movies have become more popular, less costly, and easier to
screen. Meanwhile, new scholarship in fields like semiotics,
post-structuralism, and feminist studies have added special
significance and sophistication to the analysis of moving images.
The books listed here represent both ends of the movement: some
classics and more recent contributions, all helpful for teachers
and students who are ready for an informed excursion into the
world of motion pictures. - William Costanzo and Ernice Kelly

Amelio, Ralph. Film in the Classroom . Dayton: Pflaum, 1971.
Available directly fronm the author: 8338 West Summerdale,
Chicago, IL 60656, (A thoughtful gathering of teaching ideas,
methods, and materials for introducing films into the school,
based on a successful program and written by a gifted,
experienced high school teacher.)

Beja. Morris. Film & Literature . New York: Longman, 1979. (After
considering the differences between fiction on the page and on^
the screen, Beja analyzes twenty-five popular narrative films,*
including useful study questions and suggested readings.)

Boggs, Joseph. The Art of Watching Film . Mountain View, CA:
May field Publishers, 1985. (An inclusive text which avoids
complexities and is perhaps best for the student who is generally
poorly prepared.)

Bordwell, David and Kristin Thompson. Film Art: An Introduction .
NY: Knopf, 1986. (A very rich text — especially in its examination
of critical approaches to film — but because of its relative
sophistication, it may be best suited for students and teachers
already familiar with film and film study.)

Cook, David. A History of Narrative Film . New York: Norton, 1981.
(One of the most readable and dependable of the many cinematic
histories, this volume gives a balanced, richly-illustrated
account from the silents to the seventies.)

Costanzo, William. Double Exposure: Composing Through Writing and
Film . Upper Montclair, NJ: Boynton/Cook, 1984. (Here is a book
that integrates visual and verbal forms of thinking. Based on
years of classroom experience and informed by current theory and
research, Costanzo shows how students can use their knowledge of
film and television to improve their reading and writing.)

Gianetti, Louis. Understanding Movies , Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
Prentice-Hall, 1987. (One of the most widely-used texts for
introductory film courses, Gianetti 's book has gone through four
editions. The fifth is scheduled for January, 1990.)

Heath, Stephen and Patricia Mellencamp. Ci: ,iri and Language .
American Film Institute Monograph Series, vol. i. Frederick, MD:
University Publications of America, 1983. (If you're curious
about the currents in modern film theory, this anthology offers
an assortment, of articles by writers such as Mary Anne Doane,
Teresa de L^uretis, Linda Williams, and Dudley Andrew.)

Kael, Pauline. I Lost it at the Movies . NY: Bantam, 1965, (The
first of Kael's collected reviews, this and others in the ever-
growing series can be quite handy if you're looking for
articulate responses to a particular film. Kael's views have been
consistently influential.)

Kawin, Bruce F. How Movies Work . New York: Macmillan, 1987.
(Intended as a text for film appreciation courses, Kawin 's book
is an excellent sourcebook for anyone seriously interested in
film. Generously illustrated with frames from hundreds of movies,
it explores film as an art, a craft, an industry, a technology,
and a state of mind.)

Katz, Ephraira. The Film Encyclopedia . NY: Perigee, 1979. (A
serviceable reference for quick biographical sketches of the
movie industry's major talents.)

Mast, Gerald and Marshall Cohen, eds. Film Theory and Critcism:
I ntroductory Readings . 3rd ed. New York: Oxford, 1985.
(Successive editions of this anthology have proved to be a very
useful sourcebook. If you're looking for a gathering of the best
that has been thought and said about the movies, this is probably
the most authoritative, representative collections in one
volume. )

Monaco, James. How to Read a Film . New York: Oxford, 1977.
(Without getting technical, this text takes students and teachers
well beyond the plot and theme and introduces them to a wide
range of approaches to film: aesthetic, technological, semiotic,
historical , theoretical . )

Schatz, Thomas. Hollywood Genres . NY: Random House, 1981. (Schatz
examines the history and patterns of popular film genres,
including the western, gangster film, detective movie, screwball
comedy, and musical.)

Wood, Michael. America in the Movies . NY: Delta, 1975. (Born in
England, Wood sees clearly into the social and political
dimensions of American film. His view is fresh, perceptive,
witty, and informed.)

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TELEVISION STUDIES. The historical development of television as
both an entertainment medium and an educational tool has been
accompanied by a great deal of critical response. This response
comes from many sources; each represents a diverse point of view-
-social, aesthetic, psychological, educational — and each suggests
an appropriate methodology for studying television. The books and
articles below were chosen to give the novice to TV study a
general sense of these points of view and arguments. — Richard
Fehlman.

Key Texts

Al len , Robert . ed . Channels of Discourse: Television and
Contemporary Criticism . Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina
Press, 1987. (An interesting text which, through a series of
scholarly articles, attempts to relate current critical
approaches, like reader-response and semiotics, to television
study. Allen does an especially nice job in his introduction,
relating these approaches in an antithetical way to more ^
traditional aesthetic attitudes.)

Barnouw, Erik. Tube of Plenty: The Evolution of American
Television . New York: Oxford, 1982. (The only history of
television I'm aware of — and a very important one. It is an
important text to refer to when you want to consider how the
commercial networks evolved and how that evolution parallels the
development of certain types of programming.)

Fiske, John. Television Culture . London: Methuen, 1987. (Seen by
many as THE book on television theory for the nineties, maybe
because Fiske accomplishes two significant things. First he
provides a thorough survey of TV study over the past ten years.
Then he argues that, contrary to the beliefs of behavior ists and
Marxist critics, TV does more than dupe its viewers. Rather, he
suggests, TV offers each viewer a place to actively negotiate
meanings between those implanted in production and those
individually constructed during viewing.)

Greenfield, Patricia Marks. Mind and Media. The Effects of
Television. Video Games, and Computers . Cambridge, MA: Harvard,
1984. (An important book for teachers since it reviews research
dealing with the issue of television and learning; and although
the title gives equal billing to video games and computers, most
of the text deals with television.)

Marc, David. Demographic Vistas . Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania, 1988. (A new text, and one whose author argues —

through the close reading of many TV texts that TV is creating

a society of robot-consumers programmed by the ad messages of TV.
He also argues that education — learning about how TV molds and
presents these messages — is the only alternative to a
dehumanizing form of mind control*)

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Additional Texts

England, David. Television and Children . Bloomington, IN: Phi
Delta Kapp Educational Foundation, 1984. (A short text addressed
to the classroom teacher. England deals calmly and clearly with
the argument that TV education is a waste of time. It is an
interesting piece to read after something like Winn's Plug-in
dug, which implies that TV is as socially and mentally damaging
as any drug . )

Gerbner, George et al . Trends in Network Television Drama and
Viewer Conceptions of Social Reality. 1967-1976 . Philadelphia:
Annenberg School of Communication, 1977. (This piece represents
the essence of what a sociocultural study looks like and what
Gerbner and his Annenberg students are about. The book contains a
statistical study of violence in programming during the ten-year
period noted in the title. It is this type of study which offers
the data often used to condemn TV for its dehumanizing effect on
the public. )

Git 1 in, Todd, ed. Watching Television . New York: Pantheon Books,
1986. (A series of articles dealing with numerous TV genres, from
music video and soaps to Saturday morning children's fare. The
authors here have spent time watching the programming they
critique; their arguments are generally based on close analysis.
Again, in most of these pieces, the audience is seen as being at
the mercy of money-hungry network producers.)

Gronbeck, Bruce E. Writing Television Criticism . Chicago: Science
Research Associates, Inc., 1984. (Although this text has as its
purpose to teach about writing TV criticism, it also teaches
about the various approaches available to the writer of
criticism. Gronbeck defines each and supplies examples of various
types of both journalistic and academic criticism.)

Kaplan, E. Ann, ed. Regarding Television - Critical Approaches:
An Anthology . American Film Institute Monograph Series, vol. 2.
Frederick, MD: University Publications of America, Inc., 1983.
(An anthology of scholarly pieces which vary in their interests
and themes. The four articles on soaps are quite interesting in
their seriousness and diverse points of view. If you've ever
passed off the soap as mindless tripe, you might want to work
through these articles. )

Masterman, Len. Teaching About Television . London: Macmillan,
1980. (A British import which will give you some idea about how
far ahead of us the Brits are in taking TV education seriously.
Masterman feels television needs to be taught, especially as a
language, since he sees TV language as very complex, yet
transparent for the average viewer. This book, for interested
teachers, does have curricular ideas: how one actually goes about
teaching about television.)

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McNeil, Alex. Total Television: A Comprehensive Guide to
Programming from 1948 to the Present . 2nd ed. New York: Penguin,
1984. (If you're going to talk about or study individual
programs, especially those which are no longer being telecast,
this is a helpful text. It supplies a short description of each
program broadcast from 1948 to 1984, the "present" of this
edition. McNeil also supplies individual prime-time schedules
during this time period.)

Newcomb, Horace. Television: The Critical View . 3rd ed. New York:
Oxford, 1982. (Another valuable anthology of articles and book
segments. This might be a good place to start reading since the
pieces represent a wide variety of positions from early criticism
to that which is more contemporary.)

Newcomb, Horace. "American Television Criticism. 1970-1985."
Critical Studies in Mass Communication 3 . (1986) 217-28. (A
helpful piece if you want to get a quick overview of the critical
movement in the U.S. In the same volume, John Fiske presents a
similar summary of critical movements in England and Australia in
a an article entitled "Television and Popular Culture.")

Williams, Raymond. Television and Cultural Forms , New York:
Schocken Books, 1975. (As you read in the area of TV criticism
and theory, Williams' concept of "flow" will appear again and
again. It is used to describe the nature of the TV text, not as a
series of individual texts but as a continuous flow of never-
ending, interconnected sequences. This is an important concept to
think about when you talk about the real possibility of
critically evaluating the TV text.)

Winn, Marie. The Plug-In Drug . New York: Bantam, 1977. (This text
represents much of what the average parent, administrator, ?:id
teacher feels about television: that it has a pathological
influence, threatening the family structure and the normal
development of children. Winn published a follow-up text in 1987
entitled Unplugging the Plug-In Drug , in which she carries her
argument to its most logical conclusion: don't watch TV.
Unplugging ia her guidebook to TV drug rehabilitation.)

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RESPONSE AND INTERTEXTUALITY

The current interest in response-centered instruction in
literature has evolved from varied theoretical perspectives in
the field of literary criticism. Of particular interest to
educators have been ideas from a reader response perspective
which suggest that the role of the reader, or perceiver, is as
important as the text, or artifact. New research and ideas are
also emerging from an examination of intertextual and
autobiographical connections reponders make as they read or view
texts.

The response process may also be viewed as a way of knowing
through the many forms of representation of reality, and a way of
becoming literate through experiences with the many forms of
"literariness" possible in our culture today. Such a perspective
shifts focus from print-only experiences, to include non-print,
visual media, and all other mediated experiences in the lives of
learners. Perspectives from the field of reponse and inter-
textual ity offer educators a means to consider the media as an
integral part of students' educational experience. - Carole Cox

Key Texts

Bruner, Jerome. Actual Minds, Possible Worlds . Cambridge, MA:
Harvard, 1986* (Bruner moves among the worlds of cognitive
psychology, philosophy, narrative, and literary arts to examine
questions about the nature of knowledge, mind, and reality. He
considers the human imagination as a means to make experience
meaningful, calling this activity the "narrative mode." What he
says has equal relevance for the media arts.)

Cooper, Charles R., ed. Researching Response to Literature and
the Teaching of Literature . Norewood, NJ: Ablex, 1985.
(Contributing authors discuss many aspects of theory and research
in response to literature, which may be applied to thinking about
the media arts. Auhtors include Norman Holland, Louise
Rosenblatt, Alan Purves, Arthur Applebee, Howard Gardner, Richard
Beach, David Bleich, et al .^

Corcoran, Bill and Emrys Evans. Readers. Texts, and Teachers ,
Upper Montclair, NJ: Boynton/Cook, 1986.

and

Probst, Robert E. Response and Analysis: Teaching Literature in
Junior a nd Senior High School . Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook &
Henieman, 1988. (These two texts discuss response-centered
instruction in secondary schools, which could include film and
television as text as well.)

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Rosenblatt, Louise M. The Reader, the Text, the Poem; The
Transactional Theory of the Literary Work . Carbondale, IL:
Southern Illinois University, 1978.

and

Rosenblatt, Louise M. Literature as Exploration . 3rd ed., New
York: Modern Language Association, 1984. (Rosenblatt's
transactional theory of reader response is egalitarian enough to
embrace all forms of what she calls "J iterariness. " This would
incllude all the media as well as literary arts. Many possible
implications for teaching are embedded in her theory.)

Further Readings

Rosenblatt, Louise. "What facts does this poem teach you?"
Language Arts . 57 (4), 1980, 386-94.

. "Acid test in teaching literature." English Journal . 45

(2) . 1956, 66-74.

. "The aesthetic transaction." Journal of Aesthetic

Education . 20 (4), 1986, 122-28.

. "Viewpoints: Transaction versus interaction — a

terminological rescue operation. Research in the Teaching of
English . 19 (1), 1985, 96-107.

I have found all of Rosenblatt's articles particularly useful in
thinking about the role of film and television in the lives of
children, and with many possible implications for curricular and
instructional design. The article "The aesthetic transaction"
specifically explains her theory as one which includes all texts,
or artifacts — such as comics, film, television, and the visual
arts — as means for children to represent their own view of the
world.

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VIDEO PRODUCTION

Here are some useful books for a high school video production
course. Most provide adequate descriptions of the technique ,
concepts, and process involved in planning and producing a video
tape. Some are mors technical than others, but there is enough
for teachers to pick and choose according to their particular
needs. — Steven Goodman

Bensinger, C. , ed. The Video Production Guide . (Covers all
organizational and equipment facets of studio and remote
locationa productions.)*

Gaskell, A. and D. Englander. How to Shoot a Movie and Video
Storv . (Covers the simple sequence and its variations: the
establishing shot, panning shots, editing, and more.)*

Kybett , Harry . Video Tape Recorders . Indianapo lis : Howard W . Sams
& Co., 1987. (Explains the worksings of VCRs and VTRs in all
formats, from 1/2-inch to 2-inch.)

Milerson, Robert. The Techniques of Video Production . (A widely-
used textbook that discusses the whys and hows of all phases of
TV production.)*

Traister, Robert J. Make Your Own Professional Home Video
Recordings . (How to select equipment and set up a studio to make
quality productions.)*

Williams, Richard L. Television Production: A Vocational
Approach . Sandy, Utah: Vision Publishing Company, 1988. (7* basic
textbook that covers a variety of topics including lighting,
special effects, and scriptwriting. )

*The books that do not have a publisher listed may be ordered
from Comprehensive Video Supply Corporation in New Jersey by
calling 201/767-7990 or 800/526-0242.

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COMPUTERS AND ENGLISH /LANGUAGE ARTS

Early research on computer use in education suggested that the
majority of teachers "were resistent, a small minority
enthusiastic, and the rest .cautiously apathetic."

Times have changed. The short list of printed resources below
provides only one indication of the growth in interest and vision
on the part of computer-using English and language arts teachers.
Interested faculty should also check with local Department of
Education offices for technology frameworks or curriculum guides.
Regional and national conferences for computer-using teachers are
also excellent resources for teaching ideas, printed materials,
software reviews, etc. (Many of the periodicals listed below
feature lists of such events.)

The most immediate, and probably the best, source of help is from
computer-using colleagues in your own school and district.
Together you can sustain and nourish your attempts to use the
technology to get the best out of your students and tLe best out
of yourselves. — Stephen Marcus

From the NCTE

Chew, Charles, ed. Computers in the English Program: Promises and
Pitf falls . 1984. (Wide range of topics for incorporating
computers instruction . )

Davis, Ken, ed. The Computerized English Class . 1983. (Discusses
practical applications with an emphasis on the teaching of
writing. )

Halpern, Jeanne and Sarah Liggett. Computers and Composing: How
the New Technologies are Changing Writing . 1984. (Discusses how
the effecvs of new technology can be incorporated into
instruction. )

Rodrigues, Dawn and Ray. Teaching Writing With a Word Processor,
Grades 7-13. 1986. (Guidelines and sample lessons for using word
processors and software resources.)

Se 1 f e , Cy nth ia . Computer-Assisted Instruction in Composition:
Create Your Own! 1986. (A handbook for developing materials.)

Stanford, Sally, et al . Computers in the English Classroom: A
Primer for Teachers . 1983. (General introduction to computers and
their uses. )

Wresch , Will iam , ed . The Computer in Composition Instruction .
1984. (Trends, issues, and in-depth descriptions of software.
College level.)

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Other Books

Balajthy, Ernest. Microcomputers in Reading and Language Arts .
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1989. (A college text
for teachers and future teachers.)

Blanchard, Jay, et al . Computer Applications in Reading . Newark,
DE: International Reading Association, 1987. (Brief introduction
to issues, Extensive annotated bibliography and resource guide.
All grade levels.)

Chandler, Daniel and Stephen Marcus, ed. Comnputers and Literacy .
Philadelphia: Taylor and Francis, 1984. (Issues and trends,
elmentary grades through college level.)

Costanzo, William. The Electronic Text: Learning to Read, Write ,
and Reason with Computers . Educational Technologies, 1989. (How
computers are changing the essential nature of literac^ .
Discussion covers issues, trends, and applications. K-Adult.)

Daiute, Colette. Writing and Computers . Reading, MA: Addison-
Wesley, 1985. (Issues and trends. Examples of applications from
primary grades to college.)

Edwards, Bruce. Processing Words . Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-
Hall, 1987. (A college-level composition text for students using
word processors.)

Franklin, Sharon, ed. Making the Best of the Literature, Writing,
Word Processing Connection . Collection of the best of The Writing
Notebook (see below). 3an Francisco: 1988. (Numerous
appl icat ions , issues , trends . K-College . )

Gerrard, Lisa, ed. Writing at Century 's End . New York: Random
House, 1987. (Issues and Trends. College level.)

Knapp, Linda Roehrig. The Word Processor and the Writing Teacher .
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1986. (Issues and Trends.
Writing activities for elementary through junior college) .

Literature and Computers . Vol. XV, No. 1 of College Literature .
West Chester, PA: West Chester University, 1983. (Issues and
trends. Descriptions of software.)

Marcus, Stephen. The Computer Writing Resource Kit: Faculty
Handbook . Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath, 1986. (Advice and strategies
for integrating word processing into college composition
courses. )

Mitchell, Joan. Writing With a Computer . Boston: Houghton-
Mifflin, 1989. (A college-level composition text for students
using word processors.)

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Schwartz, Helen. Interactive Writing . New York: Holt, Rinehart
and Winston, 1985. (A college-level composition text for students
using word processors.)

Schwartz, Eileen and Edward Vockell. The Computer in the English
Curriculum . New York: Mitchell Publishing/Random House, 1988.
(Issues and trends, Descriptions of applications. Grade 7-
College. )

Wresch, William. A Practical Guide to Computer Uses in the
English /Language Arts Classroom . Englewood Cliffs, NJ- Prentice-
Hall, 1987. (Discussion and examples of numerous applications.)

Periodicals .

The ACE Newsletter . K-College. Assembly on Computers in English,
NCTE, 1111 Kenyon Road, Urbana, IL 61801. (Emphasis on practical
applications, projects, and issues.)

The Writing Notebook: Creative Word Processing in the Classroom .
K-College. P.O. Box 79, Mendocino, CA. (Emphasis on practical
applications, projects, and issues. Slightly misnamed since it
deals with more than just word processing.)

General Interest:

The Computing Teacher . ICCE, University of Oregon, 1787 Agate

St., Eugene, OR 97403.
Classroom Computer News . 2451 River Road, Dayton, OH 45439.
Electronic Learning . 730 Broadway, New York, NY 10003.

Academic Journals:

Academic Computing . P.O. Box 804, McKinney, TX 75069.
Compute rs and the Humanities . Paradigm Press, 4370 S. Tamiami

Trail, Sarasota County, FL 33581.
Computers and Composition . Department of English. Illinois State

University, Normal, IL 61761.
Machine-Mediated Learning . Taylor & Francis, 3 East 44th Street,

New York, NY 10017.
Educational Technology . 720 Palisade Avenue, Englewood Cliffs, NJ

07632.

Educational Technology . 1311 Executive Center Drive, Suite 220,

Talahassee, FL 32301.
Computers in the Schools . The Hayworth Press, 75 Griswold St.,

Binghamton, NY 13904.
Journal of Computer-Based Instruction . Miller Hall 409, Western

Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225.
Journal of Eduational Computing Research . 120 Marine Street, Box

D, Farmingdale, NY 11735.
Technological Horizons in Education . P.O. Box 17239, Irvine, CA

92713.

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IMAGING

Mass visual-aural media have swept across twentieth century
communications. Photography, film, TV, computers, and their
variations have made us more aware than ever of visual and aural
images and their role in thinking. These media externalize
pictures and sounds that seem to be similar to what we experience
internally as imagery.

Imagery's verb, imaging # is the skill we have of picturing or
hearing something in our minds, such as the mental pictures we
form when we dream or read a novel. Metaphorically we can think
of imaging as a mental cathode ray tube that turns electro-
chemical brain activity into what it is we are conscious of when
we think. Knowing about imaging, we can devise learning
strategies that take advantage of this mental skill. We can
practice and perfect our imaging capability to make it more
useful for our thinking strategies.

Each of the books in the bibliography which follows stimulated
some facet o; the thinking that has led me from my study of media
to the conclusion that imaging may be a general mental ability
related to much of our thinking. — Nancy S. Thompson

Arnheim, Rudolf. Visual Thinking . Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1971. (Working with the visual because that's
the sense this artist-psychologist knows best, Arnheim explores
the concept that visual perception is actually cognitive
activity. He singles out the senses of vision and hearing as the
media par excellence for the exercise of intelligence. In the
absence of sensory perception, mental images are the mental
abstractions available to the mind for thinking.)

Gardner, Howard. Frames of Mind . NY: Basic Books, 1983. (Gardner
defines and discusses the seven kinds of intelligence that he and
his colleagues have identified in their work at Harvard's Project
Zero: musical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, the interpersonal
ability to work with other people, the intra-personal ability of
self knowledge, as well as the two basic intelligences of which
we are most aware, the linguistic and logical-mathematical.)

Gendlin, Eugene T. Focusing . NY: Bantam, 1982. (University of
Chicago psychologist Gendlin' s technique of focusing is actually
a way of putting the imaging capability to worK. Rather than the
customary use of visual imagery, focusing uses the imagery of
bodily sensations to guide the thinker to insightful recognition
of problems or situations. Through reading this accessible little
book, one can learn and practice the six movements that can be
applied to any problem situation.)

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Ghiselin, Brewster, ed. The Creative Process , NY: New American
Library, 1952. (Subtitled "A Symposium," this fascinating book
brings together thirty-eight accounts, in their own words, of
famous thinkers' inventive processes, including Einstein, Jung,
van Gogh, Poincare, and Mozart. These accounts of creative
thinking reveal that imaging is the basis for creativity and
thinking in general.)

John-Steiner, Vera. Notebooks of the Mind . NY: Harper and Row,
1985. (John-Steiner 's material came from her exciting interviews
with one hundred creative thinkers in different disciplines, with
a conscious attempt on her part to represent women thinkers in a
field that has usually been dominated by men. She weaves together
theoretical analyses with descriptive accounts gathered from the
interviews. )

Richardson, Alan. Mental Imagery . NY: Springer, 1969. (Richardson
presents a cogent discussion of developments in the study of
imagery and the activity of imaging. He is interested in how
discoveries in other fields, such as neurology, are throwing
light on "the doctrine of imaging." The book reviews empirical
research relating to the basic nature of imagery and to the role
imagery plays in other cognitive processes, such as perception,
remembering, and thinking. The appendix includes two tests for
imagery . )

Paivio, Allan. Imagery and Verbal Processes . NY: Holt, Rinehart
and Winston, 1971. (Paivio 's book is known for its distinction
between imagery and verbal language as two basically different
kinds of mental processing. My reading of this book started me in
the direction of wondering what general mental process underlies
the mental processing of both imagery and language.)

Rose, Steven. The Conscious Braxn . NY: Random House, Vintage
Books, 1976. (Anyone interested in learning about how the brain
works might choose this readable account. It provides a general
knowledge of the biology of the brain. Imaging will be more
accessible to researchers and learners when its biological basis
can be understood.)

Sacks, Oliver. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat , NY: Summit
Books, 1985. (This is a collection of personal stories — not just
impersonal case histories — of interesting humans with mental
aberrations, told by a doctor who cares about his patients. These
fascinating stories give the reader a deep personal understanding
of mental disorders, many of which involve the patients'
imagery. )

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Perkins, D. N„ The Mind's Best Work . Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press, 1981. (Perkins presents his study of
creativity — a mental ability that must be considered in any
education-related study of thinking. One of the valuable
discussions of the book focuses on his explanation and discussion
of protocol analysis as a method of studying creative thinking.)

Salomon, Gavriel. Interaction of Media, Cognition, and Learning .
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1979. (Salomon puts forth the idea
that media are made up of a network of symbol systems. Each
medium draws upon some set of these symbol systems, and exposure
to that medium develops the mental skills related to the symbol
systems it employs. What I have taken from Salomon is th« concept
that the internal mental representation of a medium's symbol
systems is what I refer to as imaging; visual imaging as a way of
thinking is activated and developed by the visual media.
Salomon's book is especially important for its emphasis on
constructing theoretical bases for media research.)

Sheikh, Anees and Katharina. eds. Imagery in Education .
Farmingdale, NY: Baywood Publishing Co., 1985. (The authors have
collected articles that present the history of imagery in
education, and they report research which can be put to work in
educational situations. This book follows the idea put forth by
Salomon that the skill of imaging can be improved through
practice. It recognizes the fact that imaging is universal.)

Shepard, Roger and Lynn Cooper. Mental Images and Their
Transformations . Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1982. (Shepard and his
associates were some of the first to create designs for
experimental studies based on observable behavioral evidence to
show the existence of internal mental activities. Their series of
experiments described in this book involves the measurement of
time it takes to make a mental transformation of an image. Their
purpose was to present evidence of the actual existence of
imagery by showing how it works.)

Stp.vick, Earl. Images and Options in the Language Classroom . NY:
Cai oridge University Press, 1986. (A book of practical exercises
and suggestions for teachers of foreign language that can be read
alone and practiced or used in groups. In addition, it covers
theoretical ideas that imagery practices are based on; for
instance, the author ties his definition of imagery to the
concept of schemata. Stevick suggests that the role of
communication is to stimulate images in the receiver's mind.)

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TEXTBOOKS FOR MEDIA EDUCATION

A number of media texts open on the question "Why teach the
media?" indicating that the newer shapes of literacy are still
drawn in the margins of the curricula of many schools and
colleges. But there are encouraging signs that "the electronic
suburbs around the city of Caxton 11 are being lit. One cf the
signs is the appearance of good textbooks to serve teachers in
this field. The following list contains a range of approaches
from the most theoretical to the very practical. -Michael Thomas

Allen, Robert, ed. Channels of Discourse . Chapel Hill, NC:
University of North Carolina Press, 1987. (A study of various
kinds of media analysis, with chapters on semiotic criticism,
Marxism, feminism, and other timely preoccupations.)

Berger, Arthur A. Media Analysis Techniques . Newberry Park, CA:
Sage, 1982. (This is Volume 10 in a series called Comtexts, and
is a guide to the techniques of media interpretation.)

Bernards, Neil, ed. The Mass Media: Opposing Viewpoints . St.
Paul, MN: Greenhaven Press, 1988. (On the principle that it is
better to debate a question without necessarily settling it than
to settle a question without debating it, this text identifies
key questions on media bias, media effects, and media control,
then presents articles in direct opposition to one another on
some aspect of each issue. The book is marred only by some
unnecessary, inept, and misnamed "critical thinking activities"
for students. )

Biagi, Shirley. Media/ Impact . Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Inc., 1988.
(Written for university undergraduates, this text is also useful
for college and senior high school students. It includes media
history, media economics, a discussion of public relations, and a
valuable appendix of media information sources from which
students can conduct research. )

Carpenter, Donna. Media Images and Issues . Don Mills, Ontario:
Addison-Wesley, 1989. (Another book of articles on the media,
including media articles to analyze, with the difference that
this text offers much more opportunity to respond in the media,
to create media statements about media issues.)

Duncan, Barry. Mass Media and Popular Culture . Toronto: Harcourt
Brace Jovanovich, 1988. (A read-and-respond text, set in the
context of shopping malls, fast food, and ephemeral trends like
cabbage patch kids.)

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Kaplan, E. Ann. Rocking Around the Clock . NY: Rout ledge, Chapman
& Hall, 1987. (Subtitled "Music Television, Postmodernism and
Consumer Culture," this study of Music Video as a market
phenomenon and a sign of a new phase of consumer culture has
detailed analyses of rock videos which raise questions of sex
stereotyping. )

MacLean, Eleanor. Between the Lines: How to Detect Bias and
Propaganda in the News and Everyday Life . Toronto: University of
Toronto Press, 1981. (A guide to the perplexed on ways of
deconstructing the news as presented on T.V., radio, and the
newspaper . )

Manoff , R. and M. Schudson, ed. Reading the News: A Pantheon
Guide to Popular Culture . NY: Pantheon, 1987. (Six critics,
journalists, and academics write about the relativity of
reportage, or the politics of news in the press and on
television. )

Masterman, Len. Teaching the Media . London: Comedia, 1985. (A
good text for media teachers. Masterman presents what might be
called an emergent European consensus on the rationale and
approaches to media education. His main focus is on three points
in the rhetorical nexus: source of information, techniques for
controlling meaning, and cultivation of audiences.)

Mogel, Leonard. Making It in the Media Professions . Chester, CT:
Globe Pequot, 1988. (A text for guidance teachers and career
advisors about job opportunities in television, radio, films, the
print media, and advertising.)

Rice, Susan and Rose Mukerji, eds. Children Are Centers for
Understanding Media . Washington, DC: Association for Childhood
Education International, 1973. (This is still a useful text for
school teachers showing what has been and what can be done by way
of exploring sound and images, making flip books, cut-out
animation, story boarding, creating a TV channel, and a grab-bag
of media activities for younger children.)

Schrank, Jeffrey. National Textbook Company, 1979. Skokie, IL:
Understanding Mass Media . (Probably familiar to all media
teachers, this is a lively, project-based text a decade old and
still viable. )

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The Commission on Media, 1989

William Costanzo (Director)
Westchester Community College
Valhalla, New York

Dorothy Farthing

DeKalb County School System

Decatur, Georgia

Richard Fehlman
North High School
Davenport, Iowa

Ernece B. Kelly

Kingsborough Community College
Brooklyn, New York

Gerald Lesser

Harvard Graduate School of Education
Cambrdige, Massachusetts

Jonathan Love 11

San Jose State University

San Jose, California

Stephen Marcus
University of California
Santa Barbara, California

Pamela A. McCarthy
Hoover High School
North Canton, Ohio

Barbra S. Morris
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan

W. Michael Reed

West Virginia University

Morgantown, West Virginia

Michael Thomas

Protestant School Board of Greater Montreal
Quebec, Canada

Jeff Golub (Executive Committee Liaison)
Shorecrest High School
Seatt le , Wasthington

Charles Suhor ^NCTE Staff Liaison)

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